


Mnemosyne

by eveethedestroyer



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-19 20:31:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1482901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveethedestroyer/pseuds/eveethedestroyer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton has nothing but a locket to track down his target. With SHEILD scrambling to pull itself together, he has no one else to turn to but Tony Stark. What starts as a simple objective soon spins out of control, and the Avengers find themselves tangled into a spiderweb that may be impossible to break free of. [Takes place after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Silver Locket

A sharp rap on the door broke Tony Stark of his listless daydream. Sitting at a desk littered with papers, he couldn't seem to focus on the task at hand. Rolling his shoulders, he leaned back in the chair and completely ignored the door.

"Sir, Agent Barton is at your door," Jarvis sounded once again, though he had not heard it the first time.  
With a nod, Tony rubbed his face and tried to break the need for sleep from his eyes. "Let him in." No sarcastic remark, no offhand comment about the man's appearance, just a turn in the chair to bring his eyes up to the agent's as the other man strolled in. "And?" Crossing his arms, he looked the agent over. Nothing but a black tactical suit, hidden weapons and a smug look on his face.

Clint Barton stood up tall and cross his arms as well. "I'm here of my own accord."

"Of course. Since SHIELD found out it had a few snakes in the nest, of course you'd be on your own." Tony spun around in his chair and turned his back to the man. "Coming to beg for asylum? Not gonna happen."

Clint shifted his weight. "No."

"Then what are you here for?" Tony looked back at the agent. Within a second, he had it all figured out. It only took one look at Clint's expressionless face to know what was missing. "You're looking for something. Or should I say, someone."

With a sigh, Clint gritted his teeth. "Yes."

"And you've come to me for help. SHIELD is busy chasing its own tail, Fury's gone. I guess you have no one left to run to anymore." He sighed, feeling a small pang of guilt for the man before. Wait, guilt? What had he done to wrong Barton? Perhaps it was a shred of loyalty to him. New York had taken its toll on Tony, and he could only imagine what it had done to Clint.

They were the same in some ways. They weren't "super" because they were born amazing or injected with a serum. They were "super" based on their talents, their gifts and skills. Clint was a master assassin, and he had experienced Loki in a way Tony could never relate to. However, Tony knew that the assassin would never say a word to show any weakness. Perhaps this was the opportunity to hand the olive branch as Pepper had suggested. He was not an enemy, no matter the fact the SHIELD left a disgusting taste in his mouth.

Clint sighed. Blinking slowly, he waited for Tony to process for himself. He felt no need to explain himself, there was no point. Tony would make his own assumptions anyway, so why waste the breath? 

Tony mulled over the idea, tossing around the pros and cons. "How can I help?"

Clint would have smiled had he the capacity to do so in that moment. But his heart was hard. He handed the man a silver locket, one hundred percent pure silver. There was a specific weight to it, and Clint knew that there was something on the inside. A way to locate a certain person. Without an explanation, he dropped the locket in Tony's hand and turned away to leave. "You know where to find me."

Tony stared at the locket as if it were an ancient relic that he had only just been granted to touch. Truth be told, he had no idea what its importance or value was. Sentimentality, perhaps, on Clint's part. But then again, if this was enough to locate someone, he would have done so by now. No, this had to be a puzzle. Something only a master could unlock. He had never pegged Clint for an idiot, but it seemed that he was out of his league in this mastery.

Which lead him to believe the locket must have been the property of his partner in crime. He had wondered what their true relationship was, but Tony lived on assumptions. He assumed that the two were in a constant state of flux between in and out of love. The idea made him sick that either soldier could be capable of such an emotion, but he quickly shook his head and smirk. Laying the locket down, he let his eyes gaze along the engravings, carefully committing to memory the patterns and shapes. Before he opened it, he took a moment to photograph it and its chain. 

He assumed the locket belonged to Natasha Romanoff. He assumed that Clint was looking for his closest ally now that SHIELD was dispersed and left leaderless. He assumed that he would be able to solve the puzzle on his own. Every assumption he made was incorrect.


	2. Chapter 2

It hurt the way she remembered things hurting, breaking down her core until there was nothing left in her mind but the searing pain. But after so much training, so much conditioning there was hardly anything that could keep the young agent from breaking. SHIELD had learned to control agents, but not how to create them. People of her caliber were not trained, they were bred. As much as Natasha Romanoff respected her comrades, they had no idea what life was, or had been, for her outside of SHIELD.

The hard metal chair is very uncomfortable, but she makes no move to shift her weight. Her face is blank. Cuffs would have been easy, but her wrists were zip-tied behind her. Any pressure and they would tighten. Natasha knew better. What she didn't know was why. Her eyes scanned the dark room for some distinguishing factor before the lights flicked on. Her eyes immediately went to the man entering the room.

* * *

Sam Wilson shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He pulled at his collar, his tie becoming more and more of a nuisance as Stark made him wait. He could have sworn that the room was getting hotter by the minute, but he dropped his hands into his lap.

Tony burst through the door, wearing an ACDC shirt and a pair of oil stained jeans. Sam couldn't help but smirk that for once he was the one overdressed. "You asked for me?" 

"I did. Seems like you've got yourself a fancy set of wings, Sam." Tony tapped his head. "Cap filled me in on you already, my avian friend. I'm glad to see someone can operate the wings like you can. How about an upgrade?"

"An upgrade?" Sam smiled.

"Captain's orders. Got a little bit of a recon mission on our hands, and we're thinking about asking you to join us. Considering how mangled they go through your last little scuffle, I might as well enhance them if I'm going to repair them." Tony took a seat on top of his desk and grabbed the apple conveniently placed on the edge. Taking a bite, he watched Sam go through his personal thought process. Before the other man could answer, Tony slapped the table and hopped off. "Great. Be down in the lab. Tomorrow, say six o'clock? Should be done by then. Let's hope. If not, Pepper will probably have dinner made for you."

Sam watched as the man headed back to the door. "I haven't said yes yet." A smirk spread across his face as he shook his head. 

Tony kept walking, kicking the door open as he made his way to it. "Yeah, I noticed." He turned to look at Sam but kept walking. "We just don't wait around when we already know what your answer's going to be." Firing fake finger guns at him, he smirked headed back towards his lab.

"Would you like me to call you a car, sir?" JARVIS sounded through the now silent room.

Sam jumped, not truly used to the AI technology just yet. "Uh, sure. That'd be great," he mumbled. The door opened of its own accord, ushering Sam out.

* * *

Clint's eyes roamed the screen as he tried to glean any useful information. Maria Hill had granted him access to the SHIEL laboratory so he could investigate some of the Hydra influences on the current governmental infrastructure. Natasha had been onto something, but as she was currently indisposed, he had to make do with what he had.

Maria entered the laboratory. He knew it was her, her footsteps light and uniformed. She still wore the same tactical suit he had known her to wear, double holster and prepped for action. Handing him a cup of coffee, she took a seat next to him and sighed. "Any luck?"

Clint shook his head as he took the cup. His eyes never left the screen. "I think I may have more questions than before, and absolutely no answers." 

Maria nodded. "The files have been surfing through the internet now. Anything you found might have been found by someone else already. We're treading dangerous waters here."

Clint looked over at Maria. "I know. But it makes no sense. Why would Natasha go rogue now? She has nothing left to hide."

Maria took a sip of her own coffee and considered his statement. "Perhaps she has nothing left that SHIEL can hide. I don't think that means she doesn't have any other secrets left hiding from her past. Perhaps she had something to go finish or fix. Now that she's not answering to SHIEL, she may have tried to contact old friends?"

"I don't think they take to defection very well," he mumbled, looking back at the screen. "That would be suicide." He focused on a map, scrolling through the territories. "Better be fucking worth it, Nat." 

He heard the rustle of paper from the hallway to the left of the room. Maria heard it too. The door blew off and hit the wall behind it. Maria dropped the cup and spun around, her firearm at the ready. Clint instinctively grabbed the other from her holster and held it up at the intruder. "Fuck," he whispered, using his free hand to clear the screen as he kept his eyes focused on the threat.


End file.
